Category: Political Thriller

Once I was a Soldier by Daniel Kemp starts with a spoiled and callus child of privledge and blossoms into a globe-trotting tale of politics, sex and deceit.

Melissa Iverson is a horrible person. Kemp opens Once I was a Soldier with the death of Melissa’s very wealthy and influential father. Kemp outlines her backstory and seeming lack of desire to connect with humans around her on a dead brother and mostly absentee and hostile mother. Rejecting an idea of friendship and using sexual partners for biological release, she is contemptuous and cynical of everyone she comes across. Her father is smart enough before what seems to be his untimely death to take the responsibility for her factories and workers off of her plate but fails to provide adequately for people who have worked in their home for 40 years. Melissa only cares if she’ll have to stoop to looking for employment and how degrading that eventuality may be. She is brusque and wholly repugnant and if I were not reviewing this book I would probably have stopped reading before the action really began. Fortunately, Melissa isn’t the only character in this tale of international intrigue.

When Melissa, who previously has never been to London, starts traveling she meets Terry, an undercover British Intelligence Officer. Terry is also involved with the wife of a politician who is looking to occupy the Oval Office. Kemp weaves their relationship in such a way that puts Melissa directly in the line of fire. Terry is not necessarily a nice guy but he’s less defined than Melissa so doesn’t come off as grating. Terry and Melissa have an active sex life between themselves and with others to the point where it’s gratuitous and reads as though perhaps the author is aiming for an E.L. James kind of flavor and that author’s healthy fan-base of middle aged women with money to burn and looking to live vicariously (I say this as a middle aged woman). Some of the more sweeping shifts in the novel read as unrealistic and while realism isn’t necessary to fiction Kemp, at point, pushes the bonds of suspension of disbelief.

Kemp has a colorful writing style that seems to lapse from time to time into purple prose. The dialogue style is quite formal which I initially thought was to indicate Melissa’s breeding but the style is maintained mostly throughout the hefty 376 page work of fiction. The author is English so one would expect a certain amount of formality but Kemp, at times, hits an Austenesque level of cultured language. Despite the far reaching settings, they don’t really read as unique.

“So did she like the novel?” you may wonder. I didn’t like the start. Once the action started going there were some interesting twists. Would I recommend Once I was a Soldier? Maybe. I’d be very selective in the reader. If you like romantic thrillers I think we’re part way to a recommendation. Kemp is a talented writer and the reviews I’ve seen of his work tend to be positive but he was just not a good pick for this reader.

If you like erotica and thrillers, you may like Once I Was A Soldier by Daniel Kemp.

When Journalist Jethro Westhrop (Jet West) is framed for the murder of a woman that he just met, he can’t know how deep the plot goes. As he delves into finding the killer, he discovers a political conspiracy he could not have imagined.

It’s the not so distant future and violence rules American politics. When the President Elect is assassinated and the question of who will be the next president causes turmoil in the nation, Civil War looms. Florida is the first to secede and as countries threaten to enter the battle. What will happen to a nation falling apart?

In Rogue Hunter: Inquest by Kevis Hendrickson, Zyra Zanr is a bounty hunter on the trail of Boris Skringler. Her pursuit takes her into the middle of an intergalactic conflict brewing. Zyra soon discovers that her task may be more complex and shattering for her people than she originally thought. She’s lived a life of her own rules. Will she make an exception and save a planet?

In the near future, the United States has slipped from its world power position. A man named Tyler Lee Peterson is poised to achieve the dream he’s been chasing his entire life, to be of consequence on the world stage. Eddy’s Current by Reed Sprague is a tale of political corruption and intrigue. Eddy’s Current is the first in a planned quartet of novels.

[easyazon-link asin=”1618689975″ locale=”us”]Sedition[/easyazon-link] was re-released today as a trade paperback while [easyazon-link asin=”1618689959″ locale=”us”]Allegiance[/easyazon-link] makes it second debut in hardcover and ebook formats.

I reviewed [easyazon-link asin=”1618689975″ locale=”us”]Sedition[/easyazon-link] in 2012 (see below for my reviews) and that novel made my best of 2012 list as well as the listing of “42 Books to Love for Towel Day.”

Both novels are wonderful political thrillers and come high recommended by Rabid Readers Reviews. Pick them up today!

In Wisecrack by Mark Meier, Selma Saddiqi was a news analyst with the CIA when she was forced to resign. Minutes after she leaves the country, Iranian suicide bombers detonate car bombs and all signs point to Selma’s involvement. Selma is not a hero but she may have to become one to save her own life. With the help of Noah Amonie, who believes himself responsible for the death of one of the victims, can she evade her pursuers and stop the movement of a world about to go to war?

The new African Pope has been hunted all his life and is highly security conscious. When he courts controversy by seeking to make Hitler’s pope a saint, people start to die. Six investigators representing international policing agencies head to the Vatican in an attempt to protect the pope and stop the loss of life. Can they succeed or does the problem have a depth none of them realize?

Jackson Quick is working for the Governor of the State of Texas when he’s kidnapped by a man calling himself “The Saint.” His kidnapper wants to know what was on the Ipods that Jackson delivered to different locales around the globe on behalf of the Governor. Once released, Jackson goes on the run with television reporter George Townsend to uncover a conspiracy that he’d never have suspected boiling under the surface of Texas politics involving even those closest to him.

In the wake of the April Fool’s War of 2090, a war caused by the accidental launch of a nuclear weapon, much of the world is in ruins. Lt. Kevin Anderson and his team are dispatched to the Islamic Republic of France to find their stores of nuclear weapons. As things will, the mission goes off the rails and Kevin is forced to improvise to stay alive.